Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – State-owned labor insurance firm PT Jamsostek is set to expand its membership among "high-potential" workers in the informal sector, departing from its traditional focus on formal sector workers.
Jamsostek president director Hotbonar Sinaga said Wednesday the company aimed to insure 280,000 new members from the informal sector this year, a jump from the 84,729 it had in 2007.
The company has launched several "breakthrough" steps to achieve the target, he said, including establishing partnership with government institutions and other state enterprises, and using part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program funds as a lure for prospective new members.
"The main problem with enrolling informal workers is the absence of umbrella organizations (to pay the premium). The only such organizations for them are the associations, most of which are weak, leading to interrupted (premium) payments.
"We can establish partnership with, for example, PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), both of which could act as umbrella organizations for the informal sector workers they work with," Hotbonar told reporters on the sidelines of a one-day seminar on Jamsostek reform.
He said that giving the workers "bait" by, for example, paying their premiums for a certain period with Jamsostek's CSR funds, could encourage them to continue to pay the premium themselves thereafter.
Since the endorsement of the 2004 law on the national social security system, Jamsostek is no longer exclusively for formal sector workers. The law says the company's insurance programs should cover all workers, regardless of sector.
In 2007, the number of informal workers throughout the country reached 66 million, more than double that of formal workers at some 31 million.
But formal sector workers have better access to Jamsostek, whose numbers stood at 23.7 million from over 159,000 corporate/employers by 2007, or 76 percent of all members.
Hotbonar said Jamsostek also targeted gaining 2.5 million new formal sector members in 2008.
Indonesian Prosperity Labor Union (KSBSI) leader Rekson Silaban said in the seminar that Jamsostek needed to pay better attention to informal sector workers as global trends show a continuous increase in the number of formal sector workers turning into informal ones amid the current global economic conditions. Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi highlighted the issue of fund and profit management within Jamsostek during the seminar.
He said employers had a "negative perception" of workers' social insurance, with "most of the money we've paid having gone to the pockets of the government and Jamsostek directors". "Employers and labor unions haven't felt the benefits (of Jamsostek programs)," said Sofjan.
Sofjan and Rekson said Jamsostek should be managed by a tripartite body representing the government, employers and employees (including those self-employed), as stipulated in the 2004 law, and that profits should not go to the government's pocket in the form of dividends.
"This is our money, but the shareholders are other people (the government). That's funny," said Rekson, referring to Jamsostek's annual profit having always gone to the government in the form of dividends until this year.